ORIGIN OF THE BOOTLEG
When I was a freshman in college at Southwest Missouri State University—now Missouri State University—I received the cassette below in the mail from Prayer Chain bassist Eric Campuzano. As I mentioned in my other post about the Prayer Chain (read it here), I was in the habit of writing the band out of sheer obsessive fandom.
Apparently, I wrote the band often enough that Eric thought of me when he came upon a cache of cassettes in his house. I prefer to say he found them in his attic. It makes it sound more like this cassette is a found artifact, I think. Sort of like The Basement Tapes—but we will leave the basement to Bob Dylan.
Because of the recent resurgence in interest in ’90s Christian alternative music on Facebook thanks to a discussion group that exploded overnight from one member to almost five thousand strong, I took it upon myself to rip this cassette to MP3 and assemble it as a proper bootleg (if it can ever truly be said that a bootleg is “proper”). Keep in mind the analog source, and know that I did the best I could to exercise quality control with my limited audio abilities.
Note: Eric refers to a song called “Pray Naked” in the letter below, but it was not featured on the cassette. He also refers to “Super the Verve/Sky High.” Apparently, “Sky High” is cobbled together from at least two songs, and I can only assume these were the working titles of the songs that were combined to create one of Mercury‘s most memorable songs. In the letter, Eric also mentions songs that later appeared on the “So Close … Yet So Far” official band release. I did not include those songs here because he included them there. The rest of this material is not available anywhere else.
The band members bestowed their blessings upon this bootleg on October 1, 2012. Click the link below to download, and enjoy what Eric Campuzano was gracious enough to send me.
TRACKLISTING FOR THE “ERIC CAMPUZANO ATTIC TAPE”:
1. Mercy (Live, 1991)
2. Turtledoves (Live, 1991)
3. Grin (Live, 1991)—Apparently, the working title of this song at the time was “Love.”
4. Kill Me (From the Inside) (Live, 1991)
5. Like I Was (Live, 1991)
6. Shine (Live, 1991))
7. Psycho Flange (Live, 1991)
8. I Believe (Live, 1991)
9. Some Love (Live, 1991)
10. Take It Away (Lifetones Version)
11. Pop Song (Demo)
12. Worm (Demo)
13. Wrounde (Demo)—Note how Tim Taber sings “no funky clowns to amuse me” instead of “no funny clowns to amuse me.”
14. Chatterbox (Demo)
15. The Hollow (Demo)
16. Friend of Foe (Demo)
17. Sky High (Demo)
http://www.mediafire.com/?7n1nixfzf1n1itf
A Radio Broadcast Featuring CTJ & DJG (Right-Click & Save Target)
5 comments
Eric Wakeling says:
Oct 1, 2012
Awesome posts from a fellow psycho fan. I followed them up the CA coast and slept in the back of my truck in church parking lots. It was probably 1993 or 94 (I was in college). I can’t remember exactly. Then I became a youth pastor and booked them at my church. Now I’m an exec pastor at a church with a large room so I work with Tim booking shows here in the OC since he runs Transparent Productions now. I was always a fan of all the guys. I experienced my disillusionment with perfect Christian band people with them and that was actually a really healthy developmental time for me. Thanks again for the cool posts. I’m on that FB group too. That did explode.
Chad Thomas Johnston says:
Oct 1, 2012
Thanks, Eric! Great to hear from you!
Peter says:
Oct 1, 2012
Awesome! Oh the memories…I still have the ’93 Rode Dog demo tape with Crawl/Like I Was. Got it from youth pastor/5 Minute Walk founder Frank Tate in Concord, CA. This seriously opened my juvenile mind to the world of MUSIC beyond the constraints of the radio dial. Thank you for your contribution!
Chad Thomas Johnston says:
Oct 1, 2012
Peter, what is this you speak of??? A “Crawl/Like I Was” demo tape? Were the versions different than those that appeared on “Shawl”?
David says:
Oct 2, 2012
Thanks Chad—awesome!